


Worth the wait (for you)

by neverendingdream



Category: Crazy Rich Asians (2018)
Genre: Emotions, Epilogue, F/M, Nick and Rachel sort out many feelings, Nick still feels guilty, Rachel and Nick play tourist for a day in Singapore, nick has a bit of claustrophobia, while enjoying quality cuisine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-02
Updated: 2018-09-02
Packaged: 2019-07-05 07:30:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15859068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neverendingdream/pseuds/neverendingdream
Summary: Post-engagement party, Nick and Rachel take some time to themselves.





	Worth the wait (for you)

**Author's Note:**

> edit: i have reunited with my laptop so have updated tags and tried to correct any formatting errors/typos
> 
> this fic is not at all inspired by me just having seen Gardens by the Bay last night

The morning after the engagement party is blissful, content, and above all else,  _quiet._  Nick wakes Rachel for a late breakfast with a kiss, and together, they eat in peaceful silence, until Nick finally dares to speak.

"Rachel, I've been thinking," Nick says and instantly regrets it. The last time he started a conversation along those lines, he'd dragged her off to Singapore with him and gotten her into this mess in the first place. Luckily, she doesn't seem to notice his unfortunate choice of words.

"Thinking what?" She asks, plopping her head on one arm to stare up at him. "If you're planning on throwing another extravagant party, I'd rather not. I'm surprised the Marina Bay Sands didn't throw us out after Alistair threw up over the edge of their so-called Infinity Pool."

Nick laughs, shaking his head at the memory. His cousin, still distraught over Kitty leaving him for Bernard, had drunken himself, well, sick. In a terrible way, too. As it turned out, Alistair was an emotional drunk, a fact Nick's mind had somehow deemed not important enough to remember, and he had cried on Colin's shoulder, apologizing for everything snide he might ever have said about Araminta (with Araminta, in fact, right beside Colin), until Araminta threatened to kill him. Then, stumbling past Astrid and a blushing Charlie Wu, Alistair had ended up being comforted by Rachel, who had gotten him sober enough that he'd staggered away from her, only to vomit over the edge of the roof.

That had been _quite_ the experience. And for Nick, had also served as a grim reminder that he and Rachel had spent far too much time with his crazy relatives and far too little time alone. Which led him to his current train of thought. Or rather, where he had been trying to lead the conversation.

"Chu to Young, do you copy?" Rachel asks with a smile, reaching over to poke him in the chest. He blinks back before breaking into a sheepish grin.

"Sorry, got caught up in my thoughts."

"What's going on in that head of yours?" She grins back, tone light. Teasing. Nick can only stare for a few moments-- she's happier than she's been since the first night they'd spent together in Singapore-- the color is high in her cheeks, the sparkle is back in her eyes, and best of all, she's smiling and joking with him, without any worry about his crazy family and their controlling ways. And today, that smile is all for him.

"No more crazy parties," he replies, taking her hand, turning it over so their fingers intertwine.

"Just, how about you and me go visit the Gardens By the Bay again? Not as Nick Young and his engaged, but just you and me. As tourists."

Rachel tilts her head, eyes bright.

"So you want to bum it with me?" She asks, tone dry. Nick nods.

"Let's just have a normal date together, just once, before we leave?"

After a long moment, Rachel smiles again.

"Alright," she says quietly, "but no more surprises, please."

Of course, it is a surprise when Nick pulls out a MRT map and begins to plan their trip.

"We're here," he mutters, half to himself, as Rachel watches, speechless, "and to get to the Gardens, we get off at Harborfront, so we'll have to take the Circle Line from here," he trails off, sensing Rachel's eyes on him.

"What," he asks with a grin, "have you never seen me take the subway before?"

She blinks back at him for a moment.

"No, _Prince Charming_ ," she deadpans.

He grins again, pulling out two MRT cards from his wallet.

"It's about time to change that then, isn't it?"

 

"Where are we?" Rachel asks, breathless, as they stumble off the MRT and into the station, two bouyies swept along by a sea of humanity. Nick takes her hand, holds it tight, and tries to ignore the bodies pressing in on them from all sides.

"Holland Village," he manages to say over the din. "My old school, ACS, is around here, too."

Rachel laughs, or at least he thinks she does, he can't be sure of anything with all the commotion around them. Before he and Rachel can be separated any further, he tugs on her hand, pulling them both from the crowd.

"Let's go to this exit," he says, motioning in a direction opposite from the pushing bodies.

"If I'm not wrong, we won't have to cross the street this way."

Rachel pokes him when they finally have the space to breathe, on the escalator ride up and out of the station.

"This isn't the bay," she complains, but her tone is light. "Where are you trying to take me, you kidnapper?"

He laughs, twisting around to take ahold of her offending finger.

"For lunch. It's right nearby. Crystal Jade. Has the best _xiao long bao_ * you'll find around here, and a Michelin star to boot."

Rachel opens her mouth, and Nick holds up a hand, forestalling any snarky comment he knows is coming.

"I swear, it's cheap. A tourist would come here."

She just shakes her head.

 _'I'll have to hide the bill from her_ ,' Nick thinks.

 

("A hundred dollars Sing for one meal?" Rachel exclaims later. "Nick, you shouldn't have."

"It's cheap for a Michelin restaurant," he replies, swiping the check back.

"Don't even think about paying," he warns. "Today is all on me.")

 

"I've actually never been here properly," he admits as they finally make their way into the Gardens after a long MRT ride, and a quick walk through the mall.

"Really?" Rachel asks, craning her neck to catch a better glimpse of the infamous trees.

 _'It all looks so different in the day_ ,' Nick thinks. Hopefully enough that they'll be able to make happier memories this time.

When they finally make it to the Supertree Grove, they both stare up at the tallest tree, its highest branches enclosing an exclusive restaurant. Rachel eyes Nick for a second.

"I hate to say it," she says, not sounding very sorry at all, "but isn't that your kind of place?"

Nick laughs briefly, before sobering, his eyes still fixed on the top of the tree.

"I would take you to the restaurant at the top, have the both of us--- have _you_ treated like royalty, but I wanted a night for just us, just you and plain old me," he hesitates, "the Nick you fell in love with."

"Nick," she says, and her eyes are shimmering a little, "every part of you makes up the man I fell in love with. The man I still _am_ in love with."

Something in him melts completely at her words, and any remaining anxiety he has about impressing her vanishes. It's _Rachel_ , he thinks. He should have never worried in the first place.

Rachel balances on tiptoes to press a kiss to his cheek, and he starts a little.

"What was that about?" He asks, putting a free hand to his cheek. She smiles again, pulling him closer.

"Just because."

 

They opt not to go to either the Cloud Forest of Flower Dome: even if they're tourists today, Nick has standards and a game plan. Those two overpriced conservatories, sadly, do not make the cut.

Instead, the two of them stroll along the waterfront as the sun steadily sinks lower and lower into the sky. Strains of dance music from the nearby kids' water play area gradually fade away, replaced by the clink of plates and bustle of none other than a hawker center, secreted away behind some large bushes and trees.

Nick inhales deeply.

"Smell that?" He asks, turning to Rachel with a grin. "That's the smell of real Singaporean cuisine."

Rachel smiles, following his lead and taking a deep breath.

"All I smell is meat," she comments as they make their way closer.

"Satay, satay!" A man calls, and Nick grimaces a little, glancing over at Rachel.

"The best is at Lau Pa Sat, but we can buy some here, too, if you want."

She bumps him with her hip.

"Whatever _you_ want. You're the local, after all."

 

They finish dinner long before they have to return to the Supertree Grove for the light show, Nick caving and buying the satay ("Even Newton is better than this!" He complains while wolfing down a good half of their plate) and ordering a multitude of other dishes ranging from chicken rice ("A must-have," he claims) to fried stingray ("Why not?" Rachel wheedles), finishing it off with a shared ice kachang, which Nick takes a bite out of before Rachel and promptly pushes the bowl away.

"You can't eat this," he proclaims. "It's not right. It's too chemically!"

"Don't be so dramatic," Rachel scoffs, taking a spoonful for herself. A second later, she grimaces.

"I've never had this before, but I don't think it's supposed to taste like this."

"You see what I mean?"

Nick takes both their spoons and pushes them aside before leaning in to give her a kiss.

"I promise you I'll treat you to some better ice kachang later," he says when they pull apart.

"I'll hold you to it," she replies, grinning.

He grins back, before checking his watch.

"Right now, if I'm not mistaken, we have a light show to catch."

 

They manage to grab decent seats under one of the larger trees before the crowds start coming in droves. There, they wait as there shadows lengthen into night.

The moment the music starts, Rachel begins to laugh, and God, he hasn't heard her laugh properly since they came to Singapore, since everything went wrong except for that final, desperate proposal. If he could have bottled that sound, that moment forever, he would've in an instant; her head on his chest, hair fanning out across his shoulder, her smile, lit by the light of the trees, framed by the music.

The light show is cheesy as hell, cheesier than his thoughts, each change of light punctuated by a dramatic flourish of classical music, and he can't help but think it's the precise opposite of everything he'd been taught as a child about showing off, both his wealth and his brains. No, the light is unashamedly, spectacularly bold and passionate. It's not affected by what it's audience thinks of it, it simply continues on, as bright and unapologetically ostentatious as ever. It's what he should have been for Rachel all this time, never letting his mother drive a right between them.

He screws his eyes shut. He can't take another second of watching the show. It'll only remind him more of just how much he'd failed Rachel, that she was only able to finally laugh freely now, on their last day in Singapore, on what was supposed to be a _fun_ trip.

"Hey," Rachel whispers, and he cracks an eye open. She's lifted her head off his chest to gaze down at him, concerned. "You alright?"

"I-- I'm fine," he manages. He doesn't want to burden her with his guilt. "You're missing the show."

She frowns and turns around again, craning her neck to see better, and on impulse, he sits up, wrapping his arms around her from behind. She makes a small noise of contentment.

"Rache," he whispers at last, "I'm sorry."

He can't lie to her.

"For what?" Her attention's only half on him, but he has to get this off his chest, or else he'll be swallowed by it all, even if it means burdening her with his guilt. He doesn't want to ruin the moment but--

"I'm just... sorry for everything," he whispers into her shoulder, and she stiffens. She tries to turn around, but he only holds her tighter.

"Just stay like this, please. Let me finish."

"Nick--" she begins, but he keeps talking, knowing if he doesn't say it now, it'll hang between them forever.

"All of this was my fault. I should've told you about my family. I should've been there to defend you all those times they insulted you. More than anything, I should've noticed sooner."

He takes a deep breath, the swell of the music fading into irrelevance.

"I--" his voice cracks "--I don't deserve to marry someone like you, Rachel. You were suffering all alone, and nothing I did helped stop any of it. If anything, I just made it worse."

"I'm sorry," he says again. "God, I'm sorry. And you agreed to marry someone like me."

"Nick," Rachel says, her voice sharp, but not unkind. "It's alright. I already told you, it's really alright. You couldn't have known. And I was dead set on facing them all down myself. So we're both to blame. But it's all water under the bridge now, I swear."

As the show reaches its finale, the lights sparking on and off with a mad frenzy, stars gone wild, freed, she turns around in his arms to face him fully, eyes glowing with a passion brighter than the stars, brighter than the sun itself.

"I chose you, Nick, not in spite of your family, though I wish I'd known about them sooner, but because despite them, I love you, more than words can properly express."

"I chose you," she repeats, and there are tears in her eyes. "I'll always choose you. No matter how many controlling mother-in-law's I'll have to face, no matter anything."

And when the lights blaze in one final show of glory, the music crescendo-ing to accent it all, she wraps her arms around his neck and kisses him with everything she has.

 

The show is over, the trees' lights dimmed back down to normal, but Nick and Rachel remain sitting until the crowd has dispersed, and they're relatively alone again. For a time.

"Why are there so many people again?" Rachel complains, sitting up. Nick shrugs, eyes still closed.

"Maybe there's another show no one told us about," he says. She frowns.

"Is there really?" Nick is silent. She sighs.

"I'll look it up then."

A Google search and a few clicks later, she sighs again.

"There really is one, isn't there?" Nick asks, finally sitting up. She nods, laughing a little.

"I guess you really haven't been here before, have you?"

"Of course not," he scoffs. "This is the kind of place only tourists are caught dead at, unless there's some high society event happening."

"Either way," Rachel replies, looping her arm through his, "thank you for bringing me back here."

"You want to stay for the next show?" He asks.

They share a smile.

  
They stay until the second crowd has come and gone, save for a lingering group of tourists, who are still ooh-ing and aah-ing over the lit trees.

"Let's go," Nick says at last, casting a final look around. "The MRT is going to be crowded as hell at this hour."

Unfortunately, it seems the remaining tourists have the same idea, and he and Rachel are squashed between bodies as they all make their way en masse towards the MRT station.

He braves the crush of bodies for a full two minutes, telling himself over and over again that it's not much worse than the New York Subway during rush hour, that he can take it for a little longer if Rachel's hand is tight in his, but it's suffocating, his breathing is getting faster and faster and--

"Let's call a cab," Rachel says into his ear, and he tries not to sigh with relief too audibly. She smiles a little, pressing a kiss to their linked hands.

"Don't worry. Poor tourists can take taxis sometimes, too."

**Author's Note:**

> *- the author would like to express the opinion that she thinks Din Tai Fung is better but Crystal Jade really does have good xiao long bao too ~~and it used to be for cheaper before they got their Michelin star~~
> 
> Askfkg this is kind of an emotional mess I'm sorry I don't know how to properly write Nick but I just wanted them to have a proper date in Singapore
> 
>  
> 
> ~~still populating the CRA tag, one self indulgent fic at a time~~


End file.
